To go cups

[dbrociner]

I just finished reading a book about Louisiana, all right it was a Dave Robicheaux book, and James Lee Burke talks about how there is no open container law in LA and that the only person not permitted to drink in a car is the driver and that there are drive by daquiri stands and that people just pull in and suck down alcohol the way I suck down Big Macs.

Can this possibly be true?

[Dave the Cook]

I don't know if it still is, but it certainly used to be. Years ago, I was stopped by a patrol car so that the officer could politely point out that I'd left my go cup frozen daquiri on the roof of my rented Impala.

(I had to give up reading Dave Robicheaux novels. The family always knew when I was in the middle of one, because dinners were laden with cayenne pepper, shrimp, crab and crawfish. At serving time, the kids would rest their chins atop their interlaced fingers, and sigh, "You're reading one of those books, again, aren't you, Dad?")

[MaxH]

...Can this possibly be true?

Welcome to Louisiana!

The idea is highly developed in New Orleans in particular, a town some other Louisianans disown (like NY State vs. NY City) and which someone, who ought to know, labeled "the most decadent city in the Americas." Below is a bit I worte there recently -- describing an economical business hotel in the Central Business District (the Cotton Exchange):

No chocolates on the pillow, no mini-bar in the room, no extra $50 a night as charged by those that do. Come on, does any city need mini-bars less than New Orleans? With neighborhood restaurants and cafés and bars of every possible style, even drive-through, even in a laundromat. ... Exiting the Vasquezes' restaurant Marisol after a weekend lunch, we walked by Check Point Charlie, “Laundromat, Bar, and Music Club” on Esplanade, a venue mentioned in the weekly music listings in town. (We heard only clothes dryers at the time.)

[Mayhaw Man]

You people.

What kind of place do you think this is? Open containers? Go cups?

How do you take your drinks to go?

Here is the current deal, although it can vary by parish.

Open containers in vehicles are legal as long as the driver doesn't have one.

Yes, we do have drive through stands.

The drinking age is 21, unless you are in a restaurant with your legal guardian-then it's 18.

Go cups are very common here. Some bars, especially in tourist areas, serve EVERYTHING in go cups.

There is currently a bill in our legislature trying to limit the ability of rural grocery store owners to sell daquiries. I believe that it got tabled yesterday, though. This means that the ones who already do this will be able to continue for a while.

Current Daquiri Legislation that was defeated on Wednesday.

That should clear things up.

[jamiemaw]

You people.

What kind of place do you think this is? Open containers? Go cups?

Go cups are very common here. Some bars, especially in tourist areas, serve EVERYTHING in go cups.

There is currently a bill in our legislature trying to limit the ability of rural grocery store owners to sell daquiries. I believe that it got tabled yesterday, though. This means that the ones who already do this will be able to continue for a while.

Current Daquiri Legislation that was defeated on Wednesday.

That should clear things up.

←

MM,

Clearly drive-thru daquiris are a God-given right in any civilized jurisdiction. That being said, in yours it must make for an amusing sight in the carpool lane: three wobbleheads and a driver. But decidedly unpicayune, say I: This is important stuff and I'll be right over.

[bavila]

I don't particularly like daiquiris -- just the idea of having a drive through daiquiri store. Here's a question -- are daiquiris the only drive-thru liquor available? Any particular reason?

I grew up in Lafayette Parish, and my recollection was that any open container in a vehicle was illegal there. So when you went for your daiguiri, they put a piece of masking tape over the lid.

I also managed to get through college (Tulane) while the legal drinking age was 18. My husband and I pat ourselves on the back for managing to go to college in New Orleans, finish in four years, AND have pretty decent grades. We think our early partying helped us out with time management in the professional world. This was particularly blatant when my husband was in the Navy, with the Academy grads (who had experienced almost NO freedom in college) trying to flounder about at work while recovering from massive hangovers. Amateurs.

Now I live in this insanely legalistic state called Maryland. I can't even buy beer or wine in a grocery store, much less pick up a bottle of vodka. And what really ticks me off is that the state even regulates which distributors can sell in a given county. No distributors handle Abita in my county, so my liquor store can't order it for me. Absolutely un-American.

Of course, now that I've painted myself as a total lush, I'll say that my pregnant self is sober and looking forward to a lovely margarita or caipirinha directly after delivery.

[chezcherie]

on our first visit to beautiful new orleans, we had a moment that really brought the whole "go cup" point home for us.

sitting in our hotel's lobby bar, waiting for a couple of friends to go to dinner. i ordered a glass of wine, my husband ordered one of those daquiris...my wine is just okay, and he says his daquiri tastes "off", and asks me to taste it. well, you know that after a sip of his drink, my wine tastes awful...our buddies arrive, and we are about 5 steps out the hotel door, when we hear hurried footsteps behind us, and turn to see the barman approaching us...(i think my husband has forgotten to pay the bill.) the barman says "excuse me, folks, but you left your drinks behind!" yes, we know..."but, don't you want a go cup?!" no, it's okay, really. then he kinda shakes his head, as he's walking back to the hotel, like he's never seen anyone leave liquor on the table on purpose before...

on my recent trip to uglesich's, i enjoyed one of miss gail's marvelous bloody marys while standing in line...i love new orleans!

edited for spelling

Edited June 10, 2005 by chezcherie (log)

[KOK]

Now I live in this insanely legalistic state called Maryland.  I can't even buy beer or wine in a grocery store, much less pick up a bottle of vodka.  And what really ticks me off is that the state even regulates which distributors can sell in a given county.  No distributors handle Abita in my county, so my liquor store can't order it for me.  Absolutely un-American.

Of course, now that I've painted myself as a total lush, I'll say that my pregnant self is sober and looking forward to a lovely margarita or caipirinha directly after delivery.

←

I feel your pain as another over-regulated citizen of Maryland. I'm not sure about your local liquor ordering (I guess you're Anne Arundel Co.), as I used to order from Corridor Wine (the big store at the B.W. Parkway & Rt 198 in Laurel, which is in Anne Arundel) and they'd get the liquor from a distributor in Baltimore. Maybe it's different for beer than for liquor.

People in NOLa don't know how good they have it until they come to Maryland. Though in Charles County (Waldorf) you used to be able to get a cup of ice at the drive through window at the liquor store. Probably no more

Thanks,

Kevin

[BrooksNYC]

In New Orleans, you'll sometimes see "go-cup" Frenchified to humorous effect:

Geaux-cup

It's become my preferred spelling!

[Mayhaw Man]

The concept of go cups can be difficult for foriegners. True story:

In the 80's I was a manager of a very large restaurant in Baton Rouge, LA. We hired seasonally, and really laid on the staff right before football season. I hired several experienced bartenders, called references, the whole deal-so I knew that they could hit the ground running pushing drinks over the crowded bar during our sometimes 2 hour waits (and this was in a 400 seat place, so you can picture the crowd).

Anyway, we are in the middle of an after the game rush and I see everyone is gainfully employed doing bartending stuff and that the oyster shuckers are doing their deal-but as I look down the bar I see my one of the new bar guys looking at a cocktail guide. I couldn't imagine what he could possibly be stumped on. The guy was a graduate student who had been working in bars in Chicago for quite a while.

So I walked over and asked him, "what the hell are you doing? We're 3 and 4 deep at the bar. You need to be making drinks and pouring beers, not boning up on cocktail lore!"

The guy looked at me and said, "I'm sorry, I know tons of drinks, I made a 100 on my bar test for the job, but this guy asked for a "go cup" and I don't know how to make one."

Like I said, it's not something that many outsiders grasp.

[Grub]

I tried buying beer at a gas station in Utah, but they told me they stop selling alcohol at a certain hour (I forget)...

I quipped, "Whatever happened to The Land Of The Free?" and decided to try bribe the lady. "This is Utah" she said, stonefaced, without missing a beat... Aw jezz.

[racheld]

Um Hum. Tis true---drive right up and take away. Some friendly places would probably just give you a LOOOOOOONNNNNG straw and stick it in the daiquiri keg.

I MISS New Orleans.

And Robicheaux rules. I listened to Black Cherry Blues whilst I did the breakfast dishes. Chopping and stirring are certainly more interesting with a little Cajun flavor, mist on the bayou and all that. The dishes just form themselves, while I'm transported.

But I don't miss the heat. Or the mosquitoes.

[joiei]

And the only reason I went to my last mardi gras parade was to stock up my supply of go cups for the house. When they are free, the beverage taste better.

[SaltySnack]

Actually, the Louisiana Legislature passed a law last year forbidding open containers by both the driver and the passenger in a moving vehicle. See the link to the appropriate statute.

http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=88239

However, the statute does provide an exemption for being on a krewe float

The purpose of the tape on the top of the styrofoam cup is to signify that it is a closed container. As long as the straw is taped into place, it is a closed container. However, if you should take the straw out and put it into the drink, voila an open container.

Also, many stores have 2 for 1 happy hours so you can get 2 drinks for the price of one.

Drive through daiquiris are one of Louisiana's gifts. I have very fond memories of skipping school and going through a drive through daiquiri store in my school uniform and buying drinks. Of course, this was back then the drinking age was 18.

mmm you've now made me crave a vodka freeze.

[Mayhaw Man]

And the only reason I went to my last mardi gras parade was to stock up my supply of go cups for the house.  When they are free, the beverage taste better.

←

I haven't bought any plastic cups in years. I have, literally, cases of the things in my attic, along with a gillion pounds of beads (that I am about to have to move as we gut the upstairs this summer). I have often wondered if Orleans Parish is not slowly sinking under the weight of all of those Carnival beads stored in people's attics.

[hjshorter]

People in NOLa don't know how good they have it until they come to Maryland. Though in Charles County (Waldorf) you used to be able to get a cup of ice at the drive through window at the liquor store. Probably no more

←

I went to high school in Waldorf before they upped the drinking age to 21. Not just a cup of ice. We'd get a miniature and a "set up" - cup of ice and an 8 oz. soda or tonic. At the drive through window. Next time I'm down there I will check and see if you still can.

My husband is from New Orleans and Checkpoint Charlie's was his regular hangout. The first time he took me "home" to NOLA I was stunned to see that not only did the drugstore sell liquor but they had their own brand. We have a giant stash of go cups from bars and Mardi Gras, now mostly used in the bathtub to rinse the kids' hair.

[Mayhaw Man]

I was stunned to see that not only did the drugstore sell liquor but they had their own brand.   

←

I can tell you that it was a sad time at the first party I went to without a half gallon of K&B Vodka on the drinks table.

And the scotch wasn't bad either if you drank it straight from the freezer, like vodka.

[bavila]

Oh God. K&B Vodka. My stomach is already churning.

That said, it was quite said to see all the purple signs replaced with red and blue Rite Aid signs when we drove through town.

[jg70124]

Ever notice that along the I-10 near New Orleans, street lights have break-away mounts? And that it's not uncommon to see a half dozen newly downed poles on the way to work Monday mornings...

[highchef]

undefined

I just finished reading a book about Louisiana, all right it was a Dave Robicheaux book, and James Lee Burke talks about how there is no open container law in LA and that the only person not permitted to drink in a car is the driver and that there are drive by daquiri stands and that people just pull in and suck down alcohol the way I suck down Big Macs.

This is true, but there is an open container law in Louisiana. However, in Cal. Parish, it only applys to the driver after 5 or 6 pm... I have an attorney friend who lives behind a police building and popped a tab in front of the guy, when he pulled him over as expected, the attorney told him exactly how the law was, and why, and how. No ticket. free education. But we do like our go cups..gee, they're better than beads!

[duckduck]

I was told a lot of your mini marts have things like Jack & Coke in a can too. We don't have that at our mini marts here in Oregon. I was also told that in some parts of California, the McDonald's actually serve alcholic beverages. I didn't realize how uptight we really are here in the NW. Sheez.

[HungryC]

Two hurricane-related go-cup items: 1) the Times-Pic website featured a photo of a National Guard Humvee in the drive-thru lane of a daiquri shop! 2)Go-cups saved several pieces of my furniture during TS Cindy & Hurricane Katrina. My (mostly) raised house has a ground-floor addition, home to several heavy pieces of wooden furniture and subject to slight flooding when it rains more than seven or eight inches in a couple of hours (fortunately, this only happens every two or three years). The piano, etc, are too heavy to lug up the steps to the raised part of the house, so when I suspect that we'll flood, I put big plastic go-cups on the legs of the furniture--works like a charm! Little plastic levees...